lifeaftr | October Intro: Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells

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October Intro: Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells

INTRO LOG: OCTOBER

Who: Everyone!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: October 3rd
Where: Ensō
Warnings: Mark as needed!

The Beach: For All the Rest
The shores of Ensō are far from the tranquil, almost idyllic tropical backdrop that they should be. And so it is that while you fish, or perhaps as you go about your daily business on the islets, the first thing you will note is the persistent sound hammering at the back of your skull.

A drumming.

And it's growing louder.

The source of the drumming will, like it or not, soon become apparent. At the fringes of the trees, wielding slings and hollow, wooden pistols, is a group of large and very displeased simians who have every intent of claiming this spot of beach - yes, traveler, this spot of beach you're standing on right now! - for their own, and by any means necessary.

And they certainly don't look interested in diplomacy.

If you came armed, you might be in luck, because this conflict will require your steady hand in its resolution. If you did not...well, you may be better suited to run, or risk capture at the hands of warriors skilled, cunning, and incredibly vicious. Laugh at their monkey business all you like; they are ingenious fighters and, what's more, they're just as good at killing as they are at capture.

For the uninitiated, this particular brand of chaos doesn't usually sweep across the entire island the way it has. But those who have been here for some time will recognize the monkeys in question, and might even recognize this for what it is: revenge.

Group I: The Squeakquel
Looks like your monkeying around last month has landed you and everyone else in a spot of trouble. The monkeys in question certainly weren't happy to be confronted with others on their lands, nor are they willing to share their territory. While you may have triumphed last time you confronted them, the apes have been planning their revenge in the meantime.

Some of you were unlucky enough to become targets. Overnight, a great deal of them silently invaded the islets. Their blow-dart guns are equipped with a fairly powerful sedative that is more than capable of knocking most living creatures out - and those that were immune were simply snatched up, gagged, and bundled away.

However, it seems that some of their prisoners didn't suit their purposes, for one way or another, and thus weren't retrieved with the intention of long-term capture. Which is why a number of you will awaken in regions of the island that you've already explored.

...the really, really dangerous ones.

Whether it's a Center of Gravity, a parade of centipuppies, a contingent of Lungblossoms, a Fustercluck, or something else entirely, one thing is certain: the monkeys wanted you out of their way.

So get ready to fight for your life.

Group II: Ape Escape
If you're not one of the slightly luckier newcomers that materializes on the shore, then you're one of the unlucky ones that's managed to materialize square in the middle of the jungle. Or rather, in the middle of one of the denser, more populated parts of the jungle. The abodes woven into the canopy are crude, built of mud and sticks, but they're nonetheless sturdy.

And, as an important note - they are also swarming with monkeys. Snarling, baying, armed monkeys. Perhaps they'd be more hostile toward an interloper...if you weren't already in a cage, along with several others.

Fortunately for the newbies, they've all got something the monkeys didn't anticipate, aside from the element of surprise. Most prisoners don't arrive with knapsacks full of newly-acquired gear, and it's a good thing, too - you may very well need it, and the help of the new arrivals, to escape this place. You could always wait for the cavalry to come, but are you really willing to take that risk?

Group III: Pot Luck
As for you, you terribly fortunate third group?

You'll find yourselves suspended in wooden cages as well, though this time, to the hot curtain of whitish steam clouding your vision. It smells an awful lot like smoke down there. An awful lot like something...burning? Unlike your fellows over in the second group, these cages aren't simply a means of containing you, no. These cages are currently hanging over what might be the largest cast iron cauldron you've ever seen. All of this is, of course, for one simple reason:

Some species of monkeys are carnivores.

The acrid scent of smoke is already hot and rancid in your nostrils; the pyre beneath you has been lit, and the hungry flames are beginning to boil the water below quite eagerly. We'd suggest you hurry up in freeing yourself and your fellows - being boiled alive is not a particularly pleasant way to go. At least the monkeys weren't expecting quite so many main courses so soon, which allows you the element of surprise.

As a final note to those who participated in the Test Drive Meme, bear in mind that those threads, if all parties involved would like, can be game canon in the form of dream-like memories involving a place very much like this one, though the layout is considerably different.

All new arrivals will awake with knapsacks with their names stitched to the front. The contents of said knapsacks can be found below!

Feeling a tad adrift? Make sure to check the Locations Page, which has details regarding the starting areas and a handy map for those who feel better with a bird's eye view!

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

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[This is now the second time the Batter has woken up somewhere he was not before and, suffice to say, he does not like this trend. A rickety raft was one thing, a cage posed over boiling water was another.

He does a fast inventory check. His bat is gone so there was no way to defend himself bar his own hands. Not that it matters much this high up. So all that is left is the Luck and Fortune Tickets along with the Joker. Not useful.

There's just another person here, a young boy by the looks of things. Better than nothing.]

Wake up.

[Hi Komaeda, you're stuck in a cage with a baseball player by the looks of things and possibly going to be boiled alive. Rise and shine!]

[Komaeda was already awake, but he decided to lay there for a bit thinking about the situation. There were a lot of things wrong, a cage above a boiling pot was one of them, but not the important one. The boy in the cage with him was also one of them, and a bit more important. Or more, important in who he wasn't.]

Be quiet, I'm thinking.

[His tone was irritated, he wasn't happy. This wasn't the sort of place he was suppose to wake up in, this wasn't what he had been promised. It was almost like a dream he had, but in that dream at least the right person was there.]

I doubt you really need to talk to me anyway.

[If they had somethig worth while to say they would already say it. Meanwhile he continued to not budge in his side of the cage, his left arm out stretches sporting a rather out of place woman's hand with bandages around his wrist.]

[The differences between the boy's hands - along with his apparent irritation - were noted but not the main focus. The former was curious but it mattered little if they both perished. The latter the Batter simply didn't care about.]

We will die if we do not.

[A simple statement of facts, nothing more. The Batter was not one to waste his breath on speeches of co-operation and the like. If they did not communicate to get out of this mess, either one or both of them would die. And apparently the man was insanely good at keeping his composure in a such a situation because the Batter doesn't sound scared or angry about anything.

That's nothing unusual for him. But for the sake of avoiding an argument, he will wait just a moment. Think fast Komaeda.]

Oh? Well, I'm not particularly interested in a third time, but then, I'm sure it will work out before that happens.

[He sounded bored, stating an inevitable that would happen so matter of factly that it wasn't even worth being positive about it.

He paused for a moment before sighing and sitting up. He pulled the bag that seemed to be his closer to look through it.]

And if something d oesnt happen, it looks like there are tools.

Though, perhaps waiting and seeing how bad it gets first will be better.

[Komaeda, you are a ray of sunshine.]

I am capable of healing injuries but not revival, if it is required.

[His Competence that once took care of reviving someone when they died had been reduced to only reviving those knocked unconscious. And boiling alive will naturally kill them. But it's something to keep in mind if something else besides that happens.]

What do you have?

[Tool-wise, since apparently the Batter's are gone for the moment.]

Lets see... a hand drill, some kind of rations, matches... a first aid kit....

[He rummaged a bit more but that seemed about it.]

Pretty useful items.

Though, I suppose having cleric abilities are more useful, though also ridiculously fantastical. Are you sure you're not delusional?

I'm not.

[Komaeda is not the first person to comment to that effect, but it seems the Batter doesn't care to comment farther. He could demonstrate but the boy doesn't appear to be harmed so it'd be a pointless gesture.

Instead the Batter considers their options. The food was useless since that apparently was what the two of them were to be if the creatures had their way. First aid kits had their uses but likely not now. So the matches and the drill.]

We cannot burn anything, can we.

[The rope holding them up, possibly, but that'd be a drop right into the water. So...]

A lot of things, this entire cage is wood. We could drill a hole, use the dust as an igniter, and start a fire inside the hole to remove some bars. It would be really easy, though a bit mundane.

In fact, I would be concerned just trying that in this situation.

[It would probably go wrong.</i?]

[The purifier is not yet familiar with the elements that make up this world. But the boy explains it clearly and it really does sound that simple.

However, while the Batter may be lacking quite a bit in the emotions department, he didn't miss it in others as often as one might think. "Concerned just trying in in this situation.", hun?]

Why?

[What is he missing?]

Well, it would definitely go wrong. Something else would happen. Though, it would all work out no matter what, but, I'm not sure if it will for you.

But then, this world might not even be real, so I wonder if that's something to be concerned about in the end.

Ah... if I think about that, nothing really matters.

It is real.

[But that merely might be perspectives at work. The Batter's own world, when it was alive, could be considered very strange and possibly a product of a dream if someone else arrived there. To the Batter, however, 'strange' was as real as it got.

Now was not the time to debate it. The child seems confident that something would go wrong, or go wrong for the Batter himself. If that's how it would play out in the end then it would be fine.]

Then we wait. A last resort.

[If nothing else happens, then they may not have a choice.]

Everything can seem real when you lack the proper context.

[He looked over to his left hand and frowned a bit. If he was to believe this was real that was at least something to prove that by.]

Though, rather than wait, shouldn't we observe our surroundings?

Mhm.

[The Batter did not dream prior to coming to this place and apart from a few separate occasions when dealing with the Storyteller, it was consistent. So for him this was reality. But again, there is no time to debate this subject.]

We are suspended above a large pot of boiling water. There are more people here but the smoke makes it difficult for me to see who. The creatures are unknown to me.

[But that is mostly due to the fact the Batter has never seen them before. Got anything else to add?]

The creatures look like some sort of ape, which makes me think of movies and books over real life.

[Such observations were too shallow for what he had been thinking however ]

Even with visibility as it is we can still see a lot, we can also hear and look down. Understanding everything is important, and perhaps a chance will make itself a parent sooner than later.

[Yes, they do appear to be something that could be found in a book, although the Batter has no idea what 'movies' are. Still, Komaeda has a point. There was nothing stopping them from observing with their eyes and ears until an opportunity arises.

And if that was the case....well, they say two heads are better than one and a third set of eyes may help here.

The Batter removes his cap and runs a hand through his hair. His eyes are a bright crimson color with a smear of eyeblack under each one. Fitting for a baseball player but that actually wasn't why it was there. He takes a deep breath before a second set of eyes open under his normal ones, blinking rapidly due to the change in light.

He's practiced in ignoring responses to this so the Batter will likely ignore whatever Komaeda's reaction in favor of sticking his head between the cage bars as far as he can fit...which isn't much. Better than nothing.]

I see a winch being managed by two of the creatures. It is likely connected to all of the cages.

[It was unsettling to see a second set of eyes, so much in fact he couldn't find words to comment on them. However, it didn't make him feel the world was any more real than he previously assumed. If anything it felt even more like a nightmare.

After hearing about the winch he thought for a moment. He looked at the bars and then back in his sack before checking his pockets.]

We could probably break a peice off and try and hit it, or at least distract the things down there.

[Good. The less questions about his appearance, the better.

Trying to gauge the distance between them and the winch is hard with the smoke. But they do have an advantage with height and even if the goal isn't to hit the winch, it could offer a distraction.]

Do you have something to throw?

[Komaeda himself may also have to be the one to throw it too. The Batter can't quite fit enough of himself passed the bars, being adult-sized. But that can come later.]

[Though Komaeda was thin he was still quite tall and boxed in. He also was down to one fully functional arm and hand. However, he had an idea of how to get more space.]

Simple, we break off parks of the cage and use it.

[He pulled the wood drill out of his back and tried to hand it over.]

I also have a knife.

[Using what they have at their disposal. Logical.]

One moment.

[Closing his second set of eyes, the Batter moves away from the bars to take the drill. He does eventually have to ask for the knife but after that it's fairly simple to get a few chunks of the bars off, plus enough room to at least stick more than just his arm out of the enclosed area they had been imprisoned in.

Eyeing the pieces, he eventually speaks again.]

Keep an eye out. Give me a signal and I'll throw it.

[The Batter, despite the baseball uniform, had only average aim but will toss it at the exact moment Komaeda says so. Whether or not it actually hits something or does anything useful...?

Well that's down to luck, isn't it?]

[Komaeda looked around at what he could, watching monkeys roam, and others who looked captured. He waited until it seemed clear enough, or until a moment it just felt 'right' and gave the signal.]

Try now.

[Would they be lucky or unlucky? It was almost exiting to think about, surely it would be lucky, since this was already pretty unlucky.]

[The Batter tosses it with as much force as he can manage in the space provided. He was confident when it comes to his strength so it should hit fairly hard, if it does.

..and it does hit the winch! How very lucky. The Batter isn't one to stop and celebrate however, and instead watches to see what, if anything, will happen.

Hopefully nothing wrecks their good fortune so far...?]

[If it was good or bad was up to them to interpret, either way they went crashing down when the wench was hit. Hopefully the water wasn't too hot.]

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October Intro: Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells

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